


Afterspark Podcast: G1 Episode 22 Enter the Nightbird

by specspectacle, Twilight-Owls (LadyTorix)



Series: Afterspark Podcast: Transformers G1 [23]
Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Embedded Video, Episode Commentary, Episode Review, Links, Podcast, Podfic, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Length: 20-30 Minutes, Swearing, Video, YouTube, transcript
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-29 02:23:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21131459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specspectacle/pseuds/specspectacle, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyTorix/pseuds/Twilight-Owls
Summary: Earth technology might just be more advanced than the Autobots would like to admit, as their base is infiltrated by Earth's FIRST female ninja robot.





	Afterspark Podcast: G1 Episode 22 Enter the Nightbird

**Author's Note:**

> If you need an audio only version of the podcast please check out the links at the end of the transcript!

[Stinger]

S: And, unfortunately, in this instance, I think, Ratchet has to be the cat.

[Intro Music]

O: Hello, and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast. An episode by episode recap of the generation 1 Transformers cartoon. I'm Owls!

S: And I'm Specs.

O: And today we're gonna be talking about episode number 22, Enter the Nightbird. Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Sure. We open with a bunch of the Autobots working on the Ark.

O: Installing floor sensors to keep out Decepticons.

S: They fly! The Autobots aren't good at, you know, reasonable thinking or forward planning or, really, considering what their enemies are likely to do.

O: Yeah, I- like, um, this will come into play, specifically, in this episode but I-uh- with a Con who's not part of the normal roster but, I think, just in general, like, Ravage could jump across what little section of the floor they do this to.

S: And then-

O: Laserbeak can fly.

S: Yes! All of the Decepticons can fly in robot mode.

O: Well, do we ever see Ravage fly?

S: I feel like we do. 

O: I don't- I don't remember. Probably, though, and we at least know- I'm still convinced he could jump over this or run, get enough momentum, turn into a tape, and go flying over.

S: Yeah, especially because, you know, with mass shifting- “I'm small and tiny and very, very light compared to how I am as a big honking cat.”

O: Exactly. 

S: And then Cliffjumper comes running in and says, “There's a famous scientist that wants to talk to Optimus.”

O: I don't know why the line read on this was so funny to me but Cliffjumper sounded like super rushed. It was- it was like, “Hurry up, guys! I want to get back to watching my cartoons!” 

S: [Laughter] And here, we’re introduced to Dr. Fujiyama. He's got a proposition for the Autobots.

O: He's also rightly worried about being eavesdropped on by the Cons but, of course, Ironhide tells him that's unlikely.

S: Oh, Ironhide, you’re about to be the wrongest you've ever been.

O: The good doctor here has invented a sexy robot- I mean, a girl robot- I mean, pretty robot- I mean, a ninja robot. [Laughter] 

S: He does have the decency to say it's the, “Greatest robot created by man,” so no accidentally insulting the Autobots here. 

O: However, Optimus says, “My curiosity is aroused.”

S: Oh, words Megatron's long wanted to hear and they're not for him. 

O: [Laughter] The Autobots agree to attend Dr. Fujiyama's unveiling.

S: And, at the unveiling, Ratchet and Wheeljack are Mean Girling the shit out of this thing.

O: As they're joking back and forth, Optimus walks by and says, “We're here to guard the robot, not make jokes at its expense.” Personally, I really liked the line, “I wonder if batteries are included.”

S: And they snicker like middle school children here so it’s like, oh, those guys.

O: I love it, actually, but Dr. Fujiyama unveils the first female-ninja-robot!

S: This show is bad about stereotyping.

O: And we're not even to Carbombia yet and if you think I'm kidding, boy, do I have news for you.

S: Yeah. We’re not kidding, we’re really not kidding.

O: Ah, yeah. Can we talk for a moment that he specifies the first “female” ninja robot. What does this mean? Have there been other female robots? Have there been other male ninja robots? 

S: Have there been, like, cat ninja robots? 

O: Yeah! Yeah, he does not specify here. I have questions and these questions will never be answered. 

S: Oh, so this robot- her name is Nightbird. We should probably mention she's black, grey, and purple.

O: And with that color scheme I think we all know what's coming. 

S: We get a chorus of supposedly impressed sound bytes from the audience but one of the voices used is very definitely Ratchet’s voice actor, which is really jarring when Ratchet was insulting this thing, like, two seconds ago. 

O: Poor Optimus has to ask what a ninja is. 

S: Jazz is like, “Oh! I heard about these things. They’re deadly assassins.” 

O: And one man rises from the audience to ask the important questions:

S: “I mustache you, why you decided to build a ninja robot?” 

O: The doctor will, unfortunately, give a very unsatisfactory answer as to why he had to build a sexy lady robot as a sexy ninja lady robot other than, “Blah blah blah, expanding humanity's horizons.”

S: Expanding horizons? For what? 

O: [Laughter] Uh, that sweet, sweet Robo love! [Laughter]

S: He says that she's not for battle but she has sais and nunchucks! Why would you arm her if she's not for combat? 

O: It’s just lovingly ridiculous. 

S: Suddenly, we see Trailbreaker get blown through the air as the door behind him explodes and the Decepticons are here.

O: Look! It's my garbage children! Hi, Rumble! Hi, Frenzy!

S: Laserbeak bursts through the ceiling as the last of the humans evacuate. 

O: And then Megatron kicks his way through the human-sized door, taking out the wall for good measure, closely followed by Soundwave.

S: Megatron's just like a goddamn Kool-aid Man here.

O: [Laughter] Yep, can I just say how much I love all the destruction right now? Everything is exploding.

S: Megatron walks in and says, “I bring you greetings, Prime, lethal greetings.”

O: I love everything about this. [Laughter]

S: And then we do the weirdest time jump as Megatron goes to shoot Optimus. First, we see Megatron firing, then we cut to a view of Optimus as Bluestreak jumps in front of him as Megatron fires… again? 

O: But it seems like it's the first time because Optimus clearly hadn't been hit prior. 

S: Yeah. 

O: It was weird. Soundwave finally seems to get some revenge on fucking Brawn, as Brawn attempts to shoot him but Soundwave shoots the platform out from underneath him. 

S: And then Mirage shoots Soundwave before he can finish Brawn off. 

O: Damn! 

S: Megatron is super pissed about this but Optimus gropes, I mean, um, _ tackles _him from behind, causing Megatron’s shot to miss. Elsewhere, Ironhide is fighting Laserbeak and gets stuck under a girder of his own making.

O: He's reaping what he sows, he's getting what he deserves. Yes, I know we used that joke already but I think of it every damn time. 

S: And then Optimus tries to save his bud but Megatron shoots him in the back.

O: He looks so gleeful here. 

S: Optimus gets back up with no ill effects and then decks Megatron as the Seekers rip off the top of the building to steal Nightbird.

O: And the Megatron decks Optimus and all the Cons fly off.

S: And how they pick up Nightbird is, like, super weird. Like, they send grappling hooks down?

O: Yeah and, basically, the Seekers all fly off with her.

S: Yes.

O: Very strange.

S: They're just dangling this robot lady underneath.

O: Yeah.

S: As they're flying and you know if someone saw it, they'd have to lay off the drink. 

O: Yeah, that's a fair statement. 

S: The Decepticons return to their extremely obvious temporary base. There is, literally, a giant, purple Decepticon badge sticking up out of the middle of nowhere.

O: Had the Autobots not seen this with the Sky-Spy or something? I feel like this is something that should show up on their scans or something.

S: It damn well should but maybe they forgot to send out a Sky-Spy today.

O: [snorts]

S: Who the fuck knows? Soundwave appears to be their new doorman, as his badge glows and a cave opens up, or a cavern, or something. 

O: An entrance and, of course, he's their doorman- the Decepticon symbol’s based on his face after all.

S: It's only fitting. Bombshell shoves a bunch of shit inside of Nightbird and now she's evil. Whoo?

O: Bombshell is super fucking horny for mind control it is creepy as balls.

S: It's so creepy. Nightbird proceeds to sit up and Starscream says some non-complimentary things about her before she jabs him, knocking him over. Apparently Nightbird’s been programmed to steal the “World Energy Chip” from the Autobots. 

O: A thing that's literally not been mentioned in this episode up to this point, let alone the series. 

S: Yeah, we don't know what the fuck it is.

O: And I feel like their explanation later is kind of lacking. 

S: Back with the Autobots, Dr. Fujiyama is begging the bots to get Nightbird back in one piece because she is apparently super important?

O: Uh, I think she was probably very expensive and his vest- investors are pissed at him. As the bots head back to base, Brawn is being an idiot and tries to refuse to ride back in Ratchet so he can walk home while being very damaged? I don't know why he does this or what relevancy this is- this has, sorry.

S: I think they just shoved him, I think Ratchet gives him a talking-to and he ends up getting shoved in. 

O: Oh, he does, he does. That's why I'm like, what was the point of the scene? I don't think a place into anything else that happens other than Brawn’s just an idiot.

S: I think it's attempting to show him being a stubborn jackass. Establishing character-

O: It doesn’t have any relevancy in this episode, but okay. 

S: Who knows. The Autobots new security system cannot hope to keep out ninjas, as Nightbird breaks in so very easily. 

O: She enters through the top of the volcano and hops onto an elevator were Spike and Prowl are having a very ironic conversation about finding her. 

S: Nightbird sneaks around the base and gets past the, “state-of-the-art,” floor panels by magnetizing her feet walking up the wall and walking on the ceiling.

O: Which also tells me these things have no sensitivity if something is going right above it, either. She steals the world energy cell or whatever and Ratchet and Optimus are alerted to this when the lights go out. 

S: On her way out, she runs into Mirage and promptly kicks his ass. 

O: Also, a nice detail, the Autobots are all using their headlights to get around the base since all the lights are off.

S: I'm not sure how Mirage has a light but he's got something. I mean, he's not a street legal car. Formula 1 racers don't have-

O: Headlights.

S: Headlights, yeah. It's just really weird. 

O: I can only assume that they, regardless, of, like, what the vehicular alt mode they'd pick they'd have something. Maybe it's, like, default to their anatomy, or he had Ratchet add it. Nightbird unveils that she can shoot buzzsaws from her hands before disappearing.

S: She's a multi-talented lady.

O: Yes, she is.

S: The Autobots catch sight of her outside the Ark and Optimus hits her with a stun gun.

O: Bluestreak approaches her but she jumps up and punches him. Optimus says, “She was playing roboto-possum,” or robot- was it ‘roboto-possum or robot possum? 

S: I feel like it was roboto-opossum.

O: Ok, roboto-opossum! 

S: Optimussssss!

O: What even is that. Optimus, what even is that?

S: She then proceeds to chuck throwing stars at them.

O: Cliffjumper pulls out a gun, ready to fight, but he has stopped by Optimus and, oh no, now she's got a lightsaber.

S: She's got it all, man. 

O: No, really, that was the lightsaber sound effect. 

S: Optimus tries to talk to her but she knocks him down and then steals his laser rifle when Bluestreak shoots her sword out of her hand.

O: She runs off and seems to disappear. Again. 

S: As a ninja does.

O: As a ninja does, ok. [Laughter]

S: Back at the Decepticon base, Megatron seems very impressed with Nightbird’s performance so far.

O: Starscream is jealous and I am convinced that their goal was to have Megatron talk about Nightbird like this so he sounded like he found her attractive. It really just seems like he's trying to make Starscream jealous, though?

S: And, back at the Ark, Ratchet is fucking amazing because he gets the power back on by, uh, [clicks tongue] futzing with two wires. 

O: Yep, he then informs Optimus that Nightbird stole the World Energy Chip.

S: The World Energy Chip can, apparently, tap into any power supply onEearth. It’s like, okay? 

O: I have so many questions, like--why do you guys have this? Like, there's gotta be a better way to get you guys power than, oh, by giving you this thing that would be really dangerous if the Decepticons got it, but whatever.

S: I mean, if it was something that just listed all the locations of energy sources that would be dangerous enough instead, no, they've got to give them-

O: Power over them?

S: Yeah. Some very stupid, ill-thought-out thing I can't imagine Earth's governments ever agreeing to.

O: Yeah, yeah. Optimus orders Hound to track Nightbird with his infrared and they corner Nightbird in some sort of canyon and the Autobots follow after her one after another. 

S: Like ducklings. And then they have to jump up a cliff. And the only one who needs help is Cliffjumper. 

O: You know, for a name like, “Cliffjumper,” he sure can't jump up cliffs very well. 

S: He's all about jumping off them, you know. Not- not up them. 

O: Obviously. Nightbird attempts to climb up another cliff to get away from the Autobots but falls off and then has to confront them.

S: Mirage proceeds to turn invisible and steals back Optimus’ gun. And here, we have one woman outsmarting five Autobots as they all try to take her down with their special abilities or weapons.

O: An earth made lady robot no less. What I was so-so- Uh, about Ratchet and Wheeljack being a dick, earlier. She's kicking their friends’ butts.

S: Yep. Megatron's watching all of this as he tells Starscream he's definitely going to replace him with Nightbird. 

O: Of course, Starscream then tries to attack Megatron in retaliation to this comment but Megs just has him tossed into an energy cage.

S: And then Starscream pterodactyl screeches and, like, it's just.

O: It's very weird moment.

S: Yeah, apparently in the script or whatever, he's supposed to actually touch the thing but he doesn't actually do that in the animation. He just screeches.

O: He just screeches.

S: He's just a dramatic jet. 

O: He is a very dramatic jet. Nightbird is finally captured and Megatron mobilizes the rest of the Cons to retrieve her. 

S: The Autobots and Decepticons fight. Again!

O: Megs has a new toy, another gun: An antimatter blaster, which he uses to free Nightbird from an energy cage the Autobots have trapped her in.

S: And then we cut to the Decepticon base where Starscream is still trapped in his cage.

O: Why are there so many damn cages in this episode?

S: They just love cages, man. 

O: All I can think is, “kinky.”

S: Yeah. Starscream fires the gentlest missile in existence that taps the button to release himself. 

O: He then flies off to show up Megatron's precious ninja. 

S: Nightbird is still kicking everyone's ass but Starscream shoots her with his Null Ray and Megatron chases after him with the rest of the Cons in tow. The Autobots then proceed to return Nightbird to Dr. Fujiyama, who's delighted that she doesn't have a scratch on her.

O: How was that even possible, given everything that happened in this episode? You know she got hit at least a couple of times! 

S: She's a durable lady. 

O: Earth technology! 

S: They say she's deprogrammed but she honestly just looks pissed as hell about being locked up forever at the end of the episode.

O: Who knows?

S: Yeah.

O: And the episode cuts with basically her being super angry and her eyes glowing menacingly. Join us next time for Changing Gears. Helpful, happy Gears? The horror!

S: Mm-hmm.

O: And I hope you're ready for Don Messick because there's a lot of Don Messick in the next episode. So, something I wanted to talk about is in the Legend comics, apparently Nightbird actually got released and got an alt.

_ [It’s actually Transformers: Earth Wars where Nightbird gains an alt, not Transformers Legends, which is a mobile game ~Owls] _

S: Ooooh! 

O: Um, they actually released a toy of it recently. And it was looks pretty cool, so I have the link- I have the post queued up and I’ll- I'll post it when we post this episode.

S: Nice-

O: I just thought it was neat. 

S: Was it a retool of one of the Arcee toys?

O: It actually wasn't Arcee, I don't think. You know what, I'll pull it up.

_ [There’s been two toys of Nightbird. The Transformers Legends version is a retool of Arcee, while the Generations version is the retool of Chromia ~Owls] _

S: Oh yeah.

O: It is a- it is a retool of Chromia, actually. 

S: Nice.

O: And it does look pretty neat, so-

S: It does look kick-ass. 

O: Uh, if uh-

S: I wouldn't mind having one of her.

O: Yeah, I've had that thought, too. So, if you either go looking for this or you see Nightbird and think her design actually looks kind of neat, there is actually a Transformer available or a, you know, a figure available of her now.

S: And it actually looks pretty- pretty much like her. Actually, if you could pull it up again I'd like - it's like, yeah, we've got the right head, she's got- 

O: Like, it's obviously not perfect. Especially, you know, being a retool of a different one, but- but- but I think it's a good version of, like oh, if she could transform kind of thing, you know.

S: It's got this- it's got the general, um, silhouette of her.

O: Yeah.

S: Except with, you know, transforming parts which she obviously didn't have.

O: Yeah, she- she didn't have any kibble.

S: Yeah but, I mean, none of the lady bots- none of the female bots have kibble.

O: A bunch of them don’t, yeah you’re right. They've gotta look like sexy, lady robots, don't you know?

S: They gotta be, uh, obviously, visibly girls.

O: Again, I’m convinced the only reason they have them in there is because they're, like, “Oh, no!”

S: “We’ve gotta cover our asses.”

O: Pretty much! 

S: Yeah. 

O: Anyway, she does look cool and we will be posting- at least, posting pictures. I don't think I'll actually have a link on this but somebody had- had actually posted pictures online. I was like this looks neat!

S: Yeah, I think it's cool.

O: So, Specs, what is our fanfic for today?

S: We have two fanfiction recommendations for today, one which I will be covering and the other Owls will be covering.

O: Yep.

S: The first is “Return of the Nightbird” by Zilly. It's uh, continuity-wise, it's G1 cartoon with G1 comic elements. I don't remember if those are IDW elements or Marvel elements. It's been a while since I've had a- since I put this on the list.

O: Whoops.

S: Yeah, it's been a while. This is one of the-

O: It says G1 comic elements, so I'm gonna assume it's the G1 comic?

S: Yes, but it could be G1 Marvel comic or it could be IDW G1.

O: Oh, okay, when I put them on here I usually specify IDW or G1 comic so...

S: I did that- I've been doing that recently, but I hadn't-

O: But this is an older rec, right.

S: Yeah, this is one that I put on, like, at the very beginning- when we started this, so this has been on the list for like, six months.

O: Yeah.

S: So it's a rated T, it's Gen, there's no pairings. Characters: Marissa Faireborn, Nightbird, and Earthforce. So I'm guessing Marvel Comics, maybe?

O: Okay. 

S: Marissa and the Earthforce reactivate the robot Nightbird and learn her origin is far more complicated than anyone expected. And the character for this one is obviously Nightbird. 

O: I've read this one, too, and I actually- I like it. I think it works better as an explanation for all the stuff that Nightbird did in this episode, if that makes sense. Like, the whole, the Autobots can't even put a scratch on her it seems kind of ridiculous that she has the origin we're told she has in here.

S: That's cool, because I'm pretty sure I read it, I just don't remember. Let's go to yours.

O: So, um, my recommendation is, “Two Good Old Boys,” by Not_Whelmed_Yet. And the continuity is IDW, it's rated G, it's Gen, there are no pairings. The characters are Ratchet, Rung and some original alien characters

And in summary: Ratchet is taking his first vacation in a millennia and he's going to- wait? He's going to a model ship hobbyists conference? That can't be right. Ratchet gets some bonding time with the ship's most popular and only therapist on a relaxing vacation that definitely won't turn into a bit of an adventure.

And the theme for this is, uh, basically, “free space,” in that Specs forgot to make it- to add a second- second fic and I have decided that if that happens I'm going to recommend fics that I don't actually see a chance for me to recommend in any other context. Namely because most of the characters involved are characters from the IDW comics which I don't see us covering any point in the near future or maybe ever. Um, so I would like to start tossing some of these in here. Or it's, like, some pairings and stuff that don't exist in other continuities aside from the comics. It is actually very fun, though so I do recommend reading it, cuz it's just sort of this fun weird adventure romp with a, you know, Ratchet and Rung, who's just a delightful, nice guy. So enjoy! 

S: Well I haven't read that so I'm going to. 

O: You should read it, I think you'll like it. I want to see- say it was part of, like, Secret Solenoid or something last year, so I saw it get posted either from- from the person who it was gifted to or by the person who did it. I don't remember which one.

S: All right, let's get to that outro! And that just about wraps it up for us today! Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes or links we may have mentioned. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter @AftersparkPod (all one word) and at various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast. Such as: AO3, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Youtube, just to name a few. Till next time, I'm Specs.

O: And I'm Owls!

S: Toodles!

[Outro Music]

**Author's Note:**

> [Transformers Generations Nightbird](https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/99709)   
[ **Nightbird (TF Wiki)** ](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Nightbird_\(G1\))
> 
> **Fanfic Recommendations:**
> 
>   * [Return of the Nightbird](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2257173/1/Return-of-the-Nightbird) by [Zylly](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/338401/Zylly)
>   * [Two Good Old Boys](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17257343) by [not_whelmed_yet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_whelmed_yet/pseuds/not_whelmed_yet)
> 
> **Where to find us:**
> 
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